


The World Doesn't Need An Avatar

by isitjustagayblog



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Korrasami - Freeform, Red Lotus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2015-08-08
Packaged: 2018-04-20 23:44:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4806716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isitjustagayblog/pseuds/isitjustagayblog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modern AU. The world has entered a new millennium and people are starting to believe humanity doesn't need the Avatar. The Red Lotus took this ideology too far and have assassinated the previous two Avatars. Now, no one knows the identity of the new Avatar, and many live in blissful ignorance of what is to come. Asami was one of those people, until she came into her life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Slip Up

"Asami?"

Pulled from her thoughts, Asami looked up from her school laptop and towards the door of the classroom to find her counselor standing in the doorway.

"Yes, Mrs. Pema?"

"Could you come here for a moment?"

Puzzled, Asami stood from her seat and made her way out into the crowded hall. Class hadn't started yet, so there were dozens of tired, brain dead students roaming the hallways, avoiding going to class for as long as possible. She looked to Mrs. Pema, who stood beside a student she had never seen before. She looked like a Water-Tribe native and wore a navy blue button-down with the sleeves rolled up, khaki shorts and brand new school-issued shoes.

She's really cute, Asami thought to herself.

"This is Korra. She's a new student from the Southern Water Tribe, and since we're smack dab in the middle of the first semester, she's going to need help getting accustomed to her classes. And that's where you come in!" Mrs. Pema gestured enthusiastically to Asami, "If it's okay with you, would you mind showing Korra around campus and helping her find her classes and all that?"

Asami nodded happily, "Of course! I'd love to." Offering her best smile, she extended her hand towards Korra, "My name's Asami Sato. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Smiling back, Korra took it and shook her hand firmly, "Thank you, the pleasure's all mine."

Mrs. Pema was beside herself, "Oh this is just wonderful! I knew I could count on you, Asami!" She clapped her hands together and turned towards a beaming Korra, "If you need anything, I'll be in my office. But I'm sure you'll be just fine in Asami's hands. Tata!"

Korra thanked Mrs. Pema, followed Asami into the classroom, and sat down in the desk behind her. Class was about to begin, but the teacher wasn't one to care about what his students did, so Asami knew she had time to chat with her new friend.

"Let's start off by looking at your schedule. What classes do you have?"

Korra pulled out a yellow sheet of paper from her backpack, "Mrs. Pema said I had four classes, break and lunch with you, but she didn't say which classes. Here." She handed the schedule to Asami, who took it and held it so they both could look.

Asami hummed and spoke. "Alright so, obviously we have Business Tech Application together since that's the class we're in now-"

"What? Really? I had no idea!" Korra interrupted with an overzealous gasp and a hand on her chest.

Asami laughed, "I know, quite the shocker, isn't it? All these computers made me think I was in Weight Training! Which you have Seventh and Eighth Period with two of my best friends." She pointed to the sheet in front of her, "We have BTA, AP Government and Politics, Art, and International Studies together."

Korra took the sheet from Asami and looked at it intently. "Sweet, so I can just follow you to those classes. Prepare yourself because for the next few days I am literally going to be attached to your hip." Korra said with a toothy grin.

 _Quite the jokester, Bolin's gonna like this one_ , Asami thought to herself with a smirk.

"I don't see any problem with that. So, Korra." She put her elbows on Korra's desk and placed her head in her hands, "What brings you to the United Republic, specifically Republic City?"

Korra visibly tensed, clenched her jaw, and looked away, and Asami immediately began backtracking, "You don't have to tell me. I was just curious."

Korra sighed, and returned her gaze to Asami, and began, "You know how the Red Lotus has been bombing Northern Water Tribe cities for the past fifteen years?"

Asami nodded, recalling the string of Water Tribe natives that moved to the area during the height of their attacks.

"I don't know if you know this, because it happens so frequently in the North that the media has stopped making it front page news, but they recently bombed a village in the South. My village."

Asami gasped, "Oh my Spirits, I'm so sorry."

Korra waved her hand angrily with a frown on her face, "It's fine. It's just really frustrating because none of the nations are really doing anything about it anymore." Her voice began to rise. "My people are dying and they won't even bat an eye. Just wait until someone important dies, you'll see. They'll have the military up and at 'em within a day." Korra folded her arms and slumped back in her seat.

Asami, at a loss for words, let the awkward silence sit for a few moments, before finally speaking, "I'm sorry this is happening to your people, Korra."

Korra sprung forward in her chair, arms raised, before whispering harshly, having realized the teacher had just made his way into the classroom and had begun writing on the board, "And it's not like we can have the Avatar here to save us, considering she's just a teenager by now and the Red Lotus have taken out the last two we've had. She's probably got people hiding her away, making her run when the going gets tough. It's such bullshit."

Asami blinked. "Or he, right?"

Korra blinked. "What?"

"No one's seen or heard from the Avatar since the last one was killed as a child by the Red Lotus. No one knows the gender."

Korra's cheeks flushed a deep red before she sputtered out, "Oh yeah, right. I just assumed since the last one was a guy."

Asami narrowed her eyes and raised an eyebrow, "Uh-huh."

Before she could say anything, the teacher called the class's attention and pointed towards the board, the assignment for the day written in black, the homework written in red. The teacher then proceeded to lumber towards his desk in the front right corner, where he pulled out a sizable pillow onto the desk and rested his head on it. Snoring resonated through the classroom shortly after, as students began taking out their laptops and earbuds to  _not_  do their assignment for the day.

Asami chuckled and turned back to Korra, who had her face buried in her schedule, no doubt still embarrassed from the slip she had made earlier. Asami could only imagine the slew of curse words going through the poor girl's mind.

_Well, atleast her secret's safe with me._

But then realization hit Asami like a sack of bricks.

 _Her secret, what exactly is her secret?_  Asami turned away from Korra and stared at the front. Well, it's obvious she knows who the Avatar is. Which is a big fucking deal. But she seems like she has a personal stake in this, not just because her village just got bombed, but it's like she personally knows the Avatar. But from what it sounds like...

_"She's probably got people hiding her away, making her run when the going gets tough. It's such bullshit."_

Oh.

Oh my.

Oh my Spirits.

Oh  _shit_.

Asami whipped back around to Korra, feigning a genuine smile. She must have startled Korra because she jumped slightly, "Sorry, I have to go to the bathroom, I'll be right back."

Confused by the sudden outburst, Korra nodded. Asami quickly got up and looked towards the teacher's desk. She deemed it futile to ask permission considering he was now visibly drooling on his pillow and she briskly walked out of the classroom. Once in the hallway, she all but sprinted towards the bathrooms, nearly running into a vice principal.

"Watch where you're going, Sato."

"Sorry, Mrs. P'Li. Won't happen again."

"It better not."

Asami stood aside as the towering woman stalked away. Mrs. P'Li had always given her the creeps, especially considering the tattoo of the third eye on her forehead. Asami still couldn't believe they let her work here, much less as a vice principal. Asami shuddered and walked into the bathroom to gather her thoughts. Putting her hands on either side of the sink, she stared into the mirror.

_I'm 95% sure my guidance counselor just assigned me to help the missing master of all four elements, who has a glowing beacon that says "Hey Red Lotus, come at me," with school._

Asami bit into her thumb and let out a muffled scream. Luckily, only a handful of people knew this, otherwise her face would be plastered all over, but from the looks of it, someone must have found out because they bombed her village. Either that or it was just blind luck. She prayed it was the latter, but knew better. Asami let out a sigh, washed her hands, and made her way back to the classroom. On the way, she sent a group text to Mako and Bolin saying she was bringing a new kid to break and lunch with them, and not to ask her why she's new to the city because it's a sensitive topic to her. Locking her phone and placing it in her pocket, she decided she was going to play dumb and not confront Korra about it just yet. She just prayed Korra didn't have a habit of slipping up like that, or she was going to be in big trouble. When she opened the door, she noticed the teacher had awoken and was speaking to Korra. He paid no attention to her as she sat down, completely enraptured with whatever Korra was telling him.

"That's insane! I can't believe you tamed a polar bear dog! That reminds me of the time I fended off seventeen wolfbats that were attacking my platoon back in the eighties! I only had one hand to fight them off, because I was using the other to resuscitate my right hand man! Get it? Right hand! Hah!" Mr. Bumi roared with laughter while Korra awkwardly chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck as he continued his exaggerated tales of when he was in the United Republic Navy.

When Mr. Bumi was finally finished, the class period was almost up, so Korra took her seat behind Asami and gathered her things.

Turning around, Asami was the first to break the silence. "So, what's this about taming a polar bear dog?"

Korra laughed, "Naga. She's my best friend. I found her when she was just a pup. She'd gotten lost in a snow storm in the tundra by my village. One night, I heard whimpering outside my home and I went out to go look for the source without telling my parents. When they'd noticed I was gone, I'd come back covered in snow with a huge polar bear puppy in my arms. She was only a little bigger than me at the time. Now she's huge!" Korra gestured wildly, earning a giggle from Asami. "There aren't very many people in my village, especially my age. So we stuck together. Best friend a girl could ask for."

Asami smiled. "That's so sweet, Korra."

"Thanks."

And with that, the bell rang and students were out of their desks and into the halls within seconds. "We have break now, between First and Second Period. I'll introduce you to the group," said Asami as she picked up her white and orange messenger bag.

"Cool," Korra said and looked at her bag, immediately recognizing the insignia on the side. "Is that what I think it is?" Korra exclaimed as she pointed to it, "Is that the Aperture Science logo?"

Eyebrows raised incredulously, Asami gasped, as she thought no one was ever going to get the reference to the game, despite its popularity in the online community. "Why, yes. No one's ever recognized it."

"What! That's crazy! I love both Portal games!" Korra blurted as they walked out of the classroom and towards the cafeteria. "I didn't peg you as a gamer, though."

Asami shrugged and smiled sheepishly, "I've always loved video games since I was young. They were my escape from- " Asami hesitated for a moment before continuing, "From some pretty rough times."

Korra seemed to understand now wasn't the best time to talk about whatever rough times Asami had mentioned, as she nodded thoughtfully and asked, "So do you have a Steam account?"

"Yeah, it's Salami Sami."

"Salami Sami? That's adorable!"

This earned a blush from Asami. "My icon's a drawing of a salami with black hair and red lipstick on it. My friend Bolin drew it for me."

Korra laughed and walked through the cafeteria doors behind Asami, "How nice of him. My Steam name changes from time to time, but right now it's Ronald Pagan; the icon's a picture of a Pagan spirit with Ronald Reagan's face photoshopped onto it." Asami burst into laughter, "Oh my Spirits! That's priceless!"

_Not only is this girl insanely cute, she's hilarious. She's definitely a keeper._

Asami took Korra through the break line and showed her the ropes. Eat this on this day, never eat this, this is good but not everyone likes it, etc. Food items in hand, she took Korra to her group's regular table. Mako was already seated and eating, and Asami recalled Bolin was in the line far behind them.

"Mako. This is Korra. Korra. This is Mako."

Still chewing, Mako smiled and nodded at Korra. "Pleasure to meet you," he said with a hand over his mouth so you couldn't see him talking with his mouth full.

Korra gave a half wave as she sat down, "Yeah, pleasure."

"What kind of classes are you taking?" asked Mako, who took another bite out of his chicken biscuit. Korra took out her schedule once more.

"Well, I have BTA, Chemistry, English, AP Gov, Art, International Studies, and then two periods of Weight Training."

"Is that honors or AP Chem?"

"Honors."

"Okay. I'm in AP, so if you need any help, I can be of assistance."

"Wow, thanks man."

"No problem. Do you have Honors English, too?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, we have that, AP Gov, and Weight Training together. You and Bo have Chemistry together. Wait, are you a Junior or a Senior?"

"Senior."

"Okay then we definitely have English together. Did you say you have International Studies?"

"Yeah."

"What period?"

"Sixth."

"Sweet. All of us have that together."

"Awesome! I got really lucky that Mrs. Pema assigned me to Asami. This is perfect. I don't have to worry about being the new kid in any of my classes. Thanks, guys!"

With that, Bolin sat down with his tray stacked with various eatables. He immediately began ravaging his meal before he realized the newcomer to their table.

With his mouth full of food, Bolin excitedly raised his arms up and spoke, "Oh, yeah! I completely forgot about the text you sent us, Asami! Hi, I'm Bolin! It's so good to meet you!"

"It's nice to meet you, too," said Korra as she turned to Asami, who had been silently pondering the situation at hand with Korra being the Avatar. Her food remained untouched. "Is he the one that drew Salami Sami?" asked Korra, gesturing towards the hungry, exuberant boy.

Asami was snapped out of her thoughts, "Huh? Oh, yes, he did."

"Hell yeah I did!" exclaimed Bolin after he'd taken a sizable bite of his pizza, "Have you seen it? Isn't it adorable?"

"No, I haven't gotten the chance."

"Here! Let me show you." While, he pulled out his phone to look up the picture, Mako decided to ask Korra about herself. "Well, I'm seventeen, I was born and raised in the Southern Water Tribe, I'd never left the poles until I came here, I have a pet polar bear dog named Naga-"

"Whoa! That's so cool! A polar bear dog? Wow!" interjected Bolin, finally having found the photo and casually placing it in front of her for her to see when she was done speaking.

She picked up the phone and immediately burst into laughter. "Oh this is great. The resemblance is uncanny!" roared Korra, placing the phone by Asami's head.

Asami had gotten lost in her own world again, confused by Korra's sudden outburst and what was on the phone's screen. "What is it, let me see- oh. Oh shut up." She lightly shoved Korra, who reciprocated by sticking out her tongue. They laughed at one another, the two of them carrying themselves like they'd known each other their whole lives. Asami could tell their friendship would be an everlasting bond. She just hoped and prayed Korra would stay safe and be careful. The Red Lotus were dangerous people who got what they wanted when they wanted it. Korra was right earlier, the governments haven't been playing an active role in defending their people. The Water Tribes can only do so much, so they definitely need foreign aid.

As the bell rang signifying the end to break, Asami made a mental note to ask her father if he'd be willing to donate to charities helping the victims of the bombings. Getting up and throwing away her untouched yogurt, she turned to Korra and told her to follow Bolin to his next class since they had Chemistry together. Korra nodded, thanked her for her help, and made her way over to Bolin. Asami couldn't help but watch her go, just now noticing her musculature. Toned forearms and defined calves, strong thighs and biceps hidden underneath clothes, and a really nice butt to top it all off. Asami bit her bottom lip subconsciously.

_She's pretty damn hot._

"You could not have made that more obvious, Asami."

Asami let out an eek! and jumped akin to a startled house cat caught scratching its owner's new leather couch.

Mako laughed heartily and put his arm over her shoulders, guiding her out of the cafeteria. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me. But I agree, she's really attractive."

Asami sighed, then chuckled and looked down at their feet as they walked towards their respective classrooms. "I'll try not to be so obvious next time."

"Next time, eh?" Mako scratched his chin and smirked. "Looks like someone's got a crush."

Asami blushed furiously and stammered, "What? No! I mean, she's really cute and really funny, but we only just met."

Mako hummed and nodded before responding,"We only knew each other for about twenty five seconds before you asked me out."

Asami's cheeks were a deep shade of crimson, "I hit you with my motorcycle! I felt bad, and you were cute!"

Mako grinned and shook his head as he stood outside Asami's next class. He patted her on the shoulder, "Oh how the tables have turned, Asami. Fine, but you should definitely consider. She seems like your type." With a wink, he was on his way to his own class.

Asami rolled her eyes and walked into AP Lit and Comp. She couldn't believe Mako was the one teasing her and she was the one acting all flustered. It was usually the other way around. Sitting down in her desk, she thought about what he had said.

_She may be attractive, but I can't afford to let myself crush on someone like her. Her friendship is too dangerous as it is. I have to be careful, and so does she._

AP Lit and Comp was a good distraction, as they were assigned a timed essay on a prose passage. Asami, top of the class, had no difficulty writing an analysis on the excerpt of 18th century literature. The bell rang for 3rd Period, and everyone turned in their work, finished or not. Asami made her way to AP Physics, and on the way saw Bolin and Korra laughing and chatting animatedly. Korra and Asami made brief eye contact, the former flashing a quick, bright smile before continuing her conversation with Bolin. Asami blushed slightly and waved before hurriedly walking into class. She would have to wait until AP Government and Politics with Dr. Zaheer for her to see Korra again. She couldn't wait.


	2. Dr. Zaheer

Physics came easy to Asami considering her father was the Head Engineer and Founder of Future Industries, and he was constantly taking her into his workshop to teach her. Her and her father were very close considering they were all each other had. Asami sighed as she remembered her childhood shattering with the death of her mother. Shaking her thoughts away, she began scribbling notes on the lecture in her binder.

Heading towards AP Government at the end of Third Period, Asami ran into Mako and Korra.

"Hey, Asami!" greeted Korra from over the loud chatter of students also in the halls.

"Hey! How are your classes going so far?" responded Asami with a wave of her hand.

"They're going great! All the teachers here are super nice."

Asami looked at Mako, wondering if he had told her about their next teacher. It looked like he hadn't, and Asami sighed, turning to Korra. "Korra, we need to tell you about our AP Gov teacher. He's not exactly the most _impartial_." 

Korra tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean? What kind of stuff does he do?"

Struggling to find the proper wording, Asami tentatively spoke, "He seems like a genuine man, like he's very passionate about what he teaches, but his personal ideologies are morally... ambiguous. He does a good job of hiding his true feelings towards certain subjects, but Mako and I agree that sometimes some of his beliefs slip through. I think we're the only ones who have noticed, but we just ask that you be careful with what questions you ask and what you say in class. Dr. Zaheer has a tendency to target students who speak out of turn."

Korra nodded in understanding as they walked into the room. Korra and Mako sat on one row in the front towards the very right, and Asami took her place next to Korra. Bolin came in shortly after and sat behind Asami and to the left of Mako.

"Hey guys," whispered Bolin, "Ready for today's lecture on-" he squinted at the written objective of the day on the board, "Why the world doesn't need an Avatar?" Everyone's heads whipped towards the board. Sure enough, big bold red letters read "Why the world doesn't need an Avatar." It took a few moments for Bolin to realize what he had said, and he loudly exclaimed, "Wait, what!?"

Asami turned to the rest of their class, seeing that many were just as astonished as they were. Dr. Zaheer had left the classroom before the four of them had arrived, and he was still nowhere in sight. Asami hoped it was just a joke, that maybe another student had erased the objective and placed that instead. She knew better, however, as the handwriting was undoubtedly Dr. Zaheer's. She turned to Korra, who sat with a clenched jaw and a look of scorn. This was so unlike the teacher; he wouldn't just blatantly place such a sensitive topic on the board, much less talk about only one side to a view.  _This could get him fired_ , thought Asami.

She reached out to grab Korra's hand, but when she made contact Korra jumped and pulled her hand away, only to immediately replace it and grab Asami's hand. It only worked to calm her for a fraction of a second, as Dr. Zaheer entered the classroom and closed the door behind him. Wearing his typical suit jacket, slacks, and dress shoes, he painstakingly made his way over to his desk, hands behind his back, surveying the class. His eyes landed on Korra and Asami, eyebrows raised at the awkward position they were currently in. Korra took the hint and squeezed Asami's hand before releasing it, her eyes turning harder and body tensing more as Dr. Zaheer kept his eyes trained on her. He took a seat behind his desk at the back of the class, half the class looking at him while the other half was too afraid to. He wrote a few things down on a sheet of paper, quickly glancing periodically at Korra, who wore an angry face.

After several moments, Dr. Zaheer spoke to them, "I'm sure you've all noticed the objective today, and I'm sure many of you are skeptical to discuss this given recent events. However, allow me to assure you that this is something that has appeared as a free response on the AP Exam before."

 _He's lying_ , bitterly thought Asami to herself, _I've looked through every free response on the College Board website, this hasn't been a question. What's he trying to do?_

Dr. Zaheer continued, "The world doesn't need an Avatar." He paused. "It needs a revolution." He began walking around the classroom. "Political philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon wrote a compelling manifesto published in 1851 called  _The General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century_. It outlines the idea of a society where governments crumble and no longer have central authority over its people. The Four Nations are abolished, there is no rule of law, and the Avatar is nonexistent. That was then, and his arguments still hold to this day. I would argue they became even stronger at the turn of the century. I'm sure many of you know that we haven't had a true Avatar for the past thirty years, as the Fire Nation and Air Nomad Avatars were assassinated, and the most recent Avatar in the cycle, a Water Tribe native, has yet to be found. Who knows, maybe the cycle was broken, maybe it wasn't. But we have survived for three decades without an Avatar, and if that isn't proof he or she isn't needed, I don't know what is. Now-" Dr. Zaheer was interrupted by a stern voice. "That's not true and you know it."

Asami quickly turned around to see Korra out of her desk, fists clenched, face red, and absolutely  _fucking pissed_.

Korra angrily pointed to Dr. Zaheer, who was on the opposite side of the classroom. "The Spirits have cut off all contact with the physical world despite having the spirit portals opened by the last Water Tribe Avatar. Corrupted Spirits have been attacking my people in the Tribes and non-corrupted Spirits want nothing to do with us because the Red Lotus has killed the past two Avatars! The Air Nomad was a  _child_. A  _child_ , Dr. Zaheer. This world has been thrown out of balance because for the past thirty years there hasn't been an Avatar! It doesn't matter if the nations' governments don't need him or her, the people as a  _whole_ need an Avatar."

Dr. Zaheer nodded thoughtfully, bringing up his hand to rub his chin. "I have to disagree. From what I've heard, the conflict between the tribes has caused Spirits to become angry and run amok, not the lack of an Avatar. As for the absence of Spirits, before the last Water Tribe Avatar, as you mentioned, there was an absence of Spirits for several millennia, considering the spirit portals were closed. Now that they're open means nothing. The Spirits can choose whether or not they want to coexist with humans, they shouldn't have to be forced to. They deserve their freedom, as do we." Dr. Zaheer smiled wickedly. "I admire your strong conviction. I don't think I've ever had the chance of meeting you. You're that new student from the Southern Water Tribe, correct? Korra, was it?"

Still standing, Korra nodded and folded her arms across her chest. Dr. Zaheer made his way over to Korra and extended his hand, saying. "Dr. Zaheer. It's a pleasure to have you in my class." His smile was vicious, and Korra took the hand and shook it firmly, clearly unhappy by the "friendly" gesture. "Now, if you would please take a seat, I would like to get to the whole point of this discussion." Korra took her seat beside Asami, who had been scared out of her wits the entire interaction.

_Well, that pretty much seals the deal._

Dr. Zaheer began once she was seated, "I am going to assign each of you a famous political philosopher. You will each prepare a presentation on this philosopher's ideologies and how they apply to today's current events. The events can range from President Raiko's foreign policy to whether or not we truly need an Avatar." He smiled once again, turning to Korra briefly. He made his way back to his desk, "We'll start with Mako. You get my personal favorite, Guru Laghima. Bolin, you get Karl Marx. Do you think you can handle that?"

Bolin frowned at the jab at his intelligence, lowering his head and writing down his project assignment.

"Asami, you get Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. Korra, you get Mikhail Bakunin." Asami ignored the rest of the class assignments, turning to Korra who had her head down and was staring at her desk. Fists clenched, she wore a frown and her knuckles were white. Asami was at a loss for words; Dr. Zaheer could be blunt, yes, but that was downright hateful. By the time he was finished, the bell rang for Second Lunch. Unfortunately, they would have to return to the class after lunch.

The crew quietly made their way out of the classroom and into the cafeteria, gathered trays filled with food, and sat down at their regular spot. Asami glanced at Korra, who was merely staring at her lunch. Her leg was bouncing up and down rapidly, and Asami couldn't help but reach out and place her hand on Korra's knee to halt the anxious movement. Korra stopped and looked at Asami with a worried expression on her face.

_She must be terrified. She must think Dr. Zaheer knows._

"Korra, it's okay if you want to talk about it. We don't mind," assured Asami, moving her hand to Korra's back momentarily.

Bolin piped in, "Yeah, Korra. We'll listen to you vent. And I'll have you know, we're great listen-to-people-who-vent-ers."

Relaxing, Korra smiled at them and spoke, "There's really nothing to say." She put her hands in her lap and looked down. "I said what I had to say to Dr. Zaheer. The whole Avatar stuff just really hits close to home, y'know? Because of the attacks and all that." She rubbed the back of her neck, before narrowing her eyes and looking up. "I just can't shake the feeling that I've met Dr. Zaheer before. But that's impossible, unless he's visited the South." Korra thought a moment, then shook her head. "No, no one like him has ever visited my village. Whatever." She sighed and took a bite of her burger. "Do any of you guys know anything about the people you were assigned?"

Asami was the first to speak. "Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was a prominent political philosopher in the 19th century, often credited as being the 'father of anarchism'."

Mako shook his head in astonishment. "You never cease to amaze me. How do you know something about literally everything?"

Asami smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

Korra whispered something under her breath and Asami was only able to make out the word "pretty." "What was that, Korra?" Korra blushed and turned away, muttering "Nothing," before finishing her lunch.

"I don't know anything about Guru Laghima other than he was an airbender that supposedly could fly." Mako said, turning to Bolin. "What about you, bro?"

Bolin shrank in his chair, "Of course I know who Karl Marx is. I don't get why teachers think I'm dumb. I'm not dumb. I'm the opposite of dumb." He crossed his arms over his chest and huffed comically. "I'm smart." He paused. "Right, guys?" The look in his eyes showed immense insecurity and sadness, and Asami, Korra, and Mako quickly worked to reassure poor Bolin of his intelligence. They told him that he needn't worry about Dr. Zaheer, and that he was degrading to everyone, not just him.

Korra spoke once Bolin had stopped pouting. "I got Mikhail Bak- whatever. I've never heard of him before. Do you know him, Asami?"

Asami nodded. "He founded collectivist anarchism, which is the branch of anarchism that calls for the abolition of state and for the means of production to be controlled by the producers, rather than the private sector." She took one last bite of her burger before saying, "I watched a History channel documentary on anarchy, if you're wondering how I could possibly know that, too." When she looked up, everyone's mouths were open in bewilderment.

Korra then grinned mischievously and poked Asami in her side, saying, "You're such a fucking nerd, watching documentaries in your spare time."

Asami narrowed her eyes playfully and said, "You're lucky I don't know enough about you to come up with a decent comeback."

Korra laughed. "Let's fix that. What do you want to know about me?"

Asami bit her lip in thought.  _Everything._

"Well, what are your interests?" asked Asami after a few moments. Korra responded, "I like to play video games, hunt, watch TV shows, eat, play soccer, play with Naga, work out, ice skate, waterbend, stuff like that."

Mako choked on his drink momentarily and coughed out, "You can waterbend?"

Korra nodded, eyebrow raised. Bolin slammed his hands on the table and exclaimed, "This is fantastic! Do you want to join our pro-bending team? We've been missing a waterbender for months!"

Korra grinned excitedly, "Yeah! I'd love to!"

Mako recovered from his coughing fit and spoke, "You can train with us during Weight Training. It's open to people who are in school athletics to go out and train specific sports. It's not just weight lifting."

Korra, Mako, and Bolin chatted about pro-bending the rest of the lunch period, while Asami was once again lost in her own thoughts. Thoughts of Dr. Zaheer's true motives for today's discussion.

Lunch ended and when they headed back to class, the remainder of the time was given to them to research their topics. Instead, Asami opted to study something else, something more urgent to her: The Red Lotus.


	3. Research

Asami didn't know much about the Red Lotus, other than the assassinations and the bombings. She looked through news site after news site, learning that the Red Lotus members that killed the Avatars were never discovered and that the bombings seemed to have a pattern. They happened during the summer and winter solstices and the fall and spring equinoxes. Asami found it odd that the government of the Northern Water Tribe didn't actively try to stop the attacks despite their predictability. Head Chief Unalaq had apparently released a statement saying they were doing all they could. Asami would bet money that wasn't true.

The cities or villages attacked had high waterbending populations, no doubt trying to lower morale and attack the Avatar. After some digging, Asami found an article on the most recent attack that took place several days after the fall equinox, the attack on Korra's village. The site said that the bombing was entirely unexpected in the Southern Tribe, and that five people died and more were injured. Evidently, the chief of the village, a man named Tonraq, was severely injured. The article began ranting about the injustice of this tragedy, as three of those who died were waterbenders. It angrily spoke of how the waterbenders were wiped out in the Southern Water Tribe by the Fire Nation in the Hundred Years War, which happened a century ago, and that the tribe was still recovering from its losses. It called for action, but it fell on deaf ears as no one has responded to or made official statements about the bombing.

The bell rang ending the class period, and the four friends stood up and headed towards their respective classes together.

Mako turned to his friends. "Turns out Guru Laghima was also an anarchist, but he never called himself that. He believed in a new world order without a central governing body, in detaching oneself from the world, in achieving spiritual enlightenment, stuff like that. Pretty interesting."

_If he's Dr. Zaheer's favorite philosopher, I'm going to have to look into him too._

Korra piped in, "Yeah, my guy's pretty interesting too. He was against any form of hierarchy, saying that people should obey the laws of nature because they themselves recognize them as laws, not because someone else told them to. Which in hindsight, makes a lot of sense."

_Dr. Zaheer had to have a reason why he assigned us these people. But why?_

Bolin shrugged, "I mean, everyone knows Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto. I'm going to have to dig deep to find something juicy to share to the class, and maybe even find something Dr. Zaheer doesn't know about him!"

_Guru Laghima, Mikhail Bakunin, Karl Marx, and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. What do they all have in common? They all wanted in some way to abolish oppressive central government bodies and live in an essentially lawless world, except for Karl Marx. He wanted the working class to rule instead of a central government. Is Dr. Zaheer purposely trying to tell us he's an anarchist or worse: Red Lotus? Why? What's he getting at? What would he gain from that?_

Asami was so absorbed in her thoughts she hadn't realized she had sat down in Art at a table next to Korra and that class had begun until Korra had poked her in her side.

Asami gasped and turned to Korra, who had an eyebrow raised. "You there, Asami? You zoned out pretty hardcore there."

Asami nodded, "Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about our project assignments and how they're so closely related."

Korra nodded in agreement. "Didn't someone ask if they were randomly picked for us and he said yes?"

It was Asami's turn to nod. "Maybe for the rest of the class, but not us. I think he gave them to us for a reason." Asami hesitated before continuing, "I don't know though. It's just speculation." Asami thought it best to not tell Korra anything about her findings just yet. She didn't want to scare her unnecessarily. She needed concrete evidence, not just a gut feeling.

Asami took a deep breath and looked to the board for their assignment for the week. This week was to sketch whatever they liked as long as they used watercolor pencils. She turned to Korra, who had pulled supplies from the middle of the table and had begun her sketch. Her tongue was out and on her upper lip in deep concentration, pencil going this way and that on watercolor paper. She proudly grinned at her work once she completed the sketch and turned to Asami. Her smile faltered slightly in insecurity and became sheepish, and she hesitated for several moments before she slid the paper to Asami.

"You think it's any good?" Korra said quietly.

Asami took the paper and looked down. It was a picture of a cartoon smiling polar bear dog's head in the middle of a Looney Tunes end card with the letting, "That's all, folks!" across the top in neat lettering. The detail was amazing and the picture itself was adorable. Asami laughed heartily and turned back to Korra.

"This is awesome! Why are you acting so shy?" Asami asked as she pushed the paper back towards Korra to finish.

Korra rubbed the back of her neck and chuckled nervously, "I don't know, I kinda don't show people my drawings very often. Or ever, I guess."

Asami put her hand on Korra's shoulder briefly, "I would be honored to see your art, Korra."

Korra smiled brightly and assured Asami she'd bring her sketch book tomorrow to show Asami. And with that, Korra went back to working on her picture and Asami pulled out her school laptop to research known Red Lotus members and to research Dr. Zaheer. The art teacher didn't really care how or when her students worked on things as long as they got the work done, so Asami knew she wouldn't have an issue with Asami doing other work.

Starting her search with Dr. Zaheer, Asami explored database after database. The only thing she found was praise for his research and his books on political philosophy. She went as far as hacking into a criminal database, but she found nothing.

She then typed in the search bar the key word "Red Lotus". Known Red Lotus members consisted of one man who was executed several years ago for his crimes, which included capturing and torturing the loved ones of prominent politicians. The only other known member was Wùdǎo, however, it is unknown if that is his actual name. He supposedly committed mass murder disguising himself as an air nomad and poisoning the water supply. He was caught briefly, before managing to escape with fellow Red Lotus members twenty years ago. There was a blurry picture of his escape taken by a bystander, and it was difficult to make out his face clearly.

Despite Wùdǎo being far away and the cameraman being hasty in his camera work, Asami knew a trick to enhance the photo. She worked her Sato-magic on the photo with some photo editing software she had a friend hack into to make it better, and the result made Asami wish she hadn't dug so deep.


	4. Forgotten Planner

In the picture Dr. Zaheer was bald, but when he started teaching he had let his hair grow to his lower back. He often tied it in a ponytail, and as the years had passed his face had gathered wrinkles.

It wasn't hard for Asami to believe Dr. Zaheer was Red Lotus, but it was difficult to understand how no one had recognized him before now.

_I have to tell the police. Wait, he must have cleared his slate by now so there's no way there's incriminating evidence in his home. A blurry picture from twenty years ago won't be enough to convict him in a court of law, especially with how much he had contributed to historical and political research back when he was a professor at the University of the United Republic._

Taking a deep breath, Asami turned to an oblivious Korra, who sat happily in her chair doodling away.

_She tried to escape but did the exact opposite._

Asami contemplated the pros and cons of telling Korra this information. A pro would be that Korra would know Dr. Zaheer absolutely shouldn't be trusted and she would be cautious around him. Keep your friends close but your enemies closer. A con would be that it could frighten her and lead her to do something irrational like confront him or flee again, which would further confirm that she is indeed the Avatar.

In the end, Asami once again decided she would sit on this information, but she would definitely need to talk to Mako.

Art ended and Korra and Asami headed to International Studies together. Dr. Zaheer passed them and bowed his head in acknowledgement, but Korra was the only one to reciprocate. Asami stiffened and made an effort to remain nonchalant and pretend she hadn't noticed him, but Korra noticed.

Korra put her arm around Asami's shoulders and pulled her closer as they walked. "Hey, you don't have to stay mad at him for me. I've got plenty of angst to go around."

Asami blushed and giggled at Korra. "Well, I have my own reasons to be mad at him."

Korra released her hold on Asami. "Why is that? If you don't mind me asking of course."

As they walked into International Studies, Asami turned to Korra and put her hands on Korra's biceps. "I'll tell you later. I promise."

Korra raised an eyebrow but nodded nonetheless.

There was a substitute for the day and the assignment was written on the board. Mako and Bolin walked in right as the tardy bell rang, and Asami beckoned for Mako to sit next to her. Bolin went and sat with Korra and they began chatting energetically.

Asami leaned towards Mako's desk and whispered quickly, "Mako, I have to talk to you about something. It's not gonna be good."

Mako nodded and leaned in close. "What's up?"

Asami pulled out her laptop and pulled up the picture of "Wùdǎo". "Who does this look like to you?"

Mako squinted at the photo and raised his eyebrows. "Is that Dr. Zaheer when he was young? Wow, he was bald. Crazy. What's this photo of?"

Asami then pulled up the online article. "This is escaped convict Wùdǎo. He killed dozens of air nomads in the Northern Air Temple by poisoning the water supply. He was captured but managed to escape with fellow Red Lotus members. He hasn't been found since." Asami paused and looked around quickly before continuing. "Mako, Dr. Zaheer is Wùdǎo. He's Red Lotus. And the worst part about it is he  _wants_  us to know. He might as well have told us to research him and Wùdǎo with today's lecture, and the connection between our four political philosophers and the Red Lotus is undeniable. He wants us to know, Mako. And I can't figure out why."

Mako had sat quietly staring at the laptop screen, jaw clenched and eyebrows furrowed in deep thought. "He wants a confrontation. But why? What do we have to do with anything?"

Asami sighed,  _He wants Korra to find out so she reveals herself and then they can kill her. They can't kill her if no one knows she's the Avatar. Her death would be insignificant._ "I don't know." She lied. The less people who knew about Korra, the better.

Mako roughly scratched his head. "If Dr. Zaheer wanted us to find out, and we go to the police about this, he more than likely has a plan to make it so that he's innocent. And he might go after us after that. But  _why?_ "

Asami put her hands on her knees and stared at the floor as she thought. She could tell Mako was starting to get agitated _._  "I don't know, Mako."

Mako shook his head. "What would he do though? If we went to the police? It's not like he could hurt us."

Asami sighed. " _He_  can't. But someone else can. He's bound to have connections. If Dr. Zaheer is Red Lotus, he's beyond dangerous."

Mako leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "What the fuck, bro. What do we do?"

Asami hung her head in defeat. "The only thing we can do is not confront him. We have to keep quiet about this, even though in reality it's a Catch-22. If we don't talk, he continues to do whatever it is he's doing. If we do talk, he goes after us because we know who he is."

Mako also hung his head and sighed before standing up and leaning over Asami to whisper in her ear. "We'll figure this out together."

Asami nodded and turned to watch him walk over to Korra and Bolin only to sit down on top of Bolin, who shrieked and vainly attempted to push Mako off. Korra and Mako were laughing loudly as Mako turned and put his brother in a headlock. The substitute teacher couldn't care less.

Asami turned around to face the front of the class and thought to herself,  _What are you planning, Zaheer?_ She then proceeded to join her friends' antics shortly after.

The class ended an hour later with Mako, Korra, Bolin, and Asami having spent most of it not doing the assignment but rather debating when and how they thought Iggy Azalea's career would go under. Asami bid her friends farewell as she headed to her second to last class of the day: Fourth Year Engineering. The teacher didn't really care what she did; he knew better. Her knowledge in the subject far surpassed his own, and therefore, she had the equipment all to herself while the teacher would spend his time with the rest of the class. She would create schematics, alter blueprints, and tinker with machinery while the class worked on their own assignments.

At one point, some Joe Schmo became jealous and tried to convince their teacher to allow him to do the same as Asami. Engineering teacher Mr. Gongcheng looked the boy straight in the eye and said, "The second your IQ becomes  _half_  of what Asami's is, I might consider it.  _Might_."

Joe Schmo scoffed and informed Mr. Gongcheng his IQ was 104. There was no way her IQ was over twice that.

Mr. Gongcheng smiled sweetly and informed Mr. Schmo of Asami's IQ.

Which is 212.

Joe Schmo hasn't even  _looked_  at Asami since.

Asami grinned at the memory as she walked into her class and walked over to a workbench to pull out an unfinished blueprint of a potential hoverboard her father wanted her to look at.

After working diligently on the schematic for over half the class, Asami heard a voice calling her from the doorway. She looked up from her work to see Mrs. Pema peeking her head in the class. Mrs. Pema beckoned for her to come out into the hallway, and once Asami left the classroom Mrs. Pema closed the door behind her.

"So, how was Korra's first day?" Mrs. Pema asked excitedly.

Asami smiled and quirked up an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be asking her that?"

Mrs. Pema laughed loudly. "I should have, but this class is right outside the office and I've had tons and tons of work to do today, what with writing letters of  _recommendation_  and sending out  _transcripts_  and sitting down with parents to talk about their child's plan after  _graduation_ , yada yada yada. I haven't had a chance to check in on Korra. Her mother seems so worried, Korra's father is in the hospital here, did you know that?"

Asami gasped.  _Her father must be the one of the tribe members that got hurt.._  "No, I had no idea."

Mrs. Pema shook her head. "Poor girl, anyways, she left this in my office today and I kept forgetting to give it to her when I have a break. I have a conference in about two minutes, could you take this to her? Here's a pass to get out of class. She'll be in the weight room."

Mrs. Pema handed her the pass and an agenda planner. Asami took them, waved goodbye to Mrs. Pema, and entered her classroom to hand her teacher the pass.

Mr. Gongcheng smiled up at her from his seat at his desk. "You know you don't need these, right? I trust you more than my own wife."

Asami giggled at the old engineering teacher. "You know I prefer formalities, Mr. Gongcheng."

With a wider grin, Mr. Gongcheng stood and put his hand on her shoulder. In fake haughty voice, he said. "Of course. You have my expressed permission to leave this classroom for the purposes of returning that planner to Miss Korra of the Southern Water Tribe. Proceed."

Asami smiled and bowed to her teacher respectfully before leaving the class and heading towards the weight room on the opposite side of the school. She entered the large room and searched through the sweaty crowd of student athletes to find Korra in a sports bra and basketball shorts doing pull ups in the corner as Mako watched. She held a 45 pound weight strapped to her waist, and from what Mako was counting out loud, she was on her fourteenth rep. Her tan skin gleamed with sweat, her muscles protruded with every movement, and her face was completely relaxed, excluding her huge grin.

Asami watched Korra in slow motion, as she paid attention to every detail of Korra's body. She could get a much better look than earlier at Korra's glistening figure: her muscular back, her strong shoulders, her chiseled arms, her protruding biceps. Korra dropped down after she hit twenty, and as Mako helped her unstrap the weight, she stretched her arms, essentially putting on a show for Asami.

Honestly, Asami felt like a total pervert. She should look away and wait until Korra was done.

But  _spirits._

She could feel a nosebleed coming on.

"Hey, Asami?"

For the second time that day, Asami had nearly jumped out of her skin. At some point unbeknownst to Asami, Korra had noticed her and walked over towards Asami with an eyebrow raised and arms crossed, panting slightly from her recent exertion but still smiling brightly.

"Oh, hey! Sorry. I was thinking about.. something. Yeah uh, Mrs. Pema told me to give this to you. Yeah. You left it in her office. Mhm." Asami rushed out quickly as she handed Korra her planner.

"Oh wow, I thought I just left it back at the apartment, thanks!" Korra said happily as she took the agenda.

Arms crossed across his chest, Mako had walked over by now and had been staring at Asami with a knowing smirk on his face.

Asami dismissed herself quickly and walked out of the gym before they could see her cheeks turn a deep crimson.

The rest of the day went smoothly and uneventfully, and the crew regrouped after school in the student parking lot and bid each other good bye.

As Asami was walking towards her Satocycle, she heard quick footsteps behind her. She turned around to find Korra jogging slightly towards her with a big, crooked grin on her face.

Korra excitedly spoke, "Hey! I forgot to say thank you. For well,  _everything_. Not just the agenda. You helped me find my place here, and the people here are so nice, and you introduced me to two great guys, and you're obviously really cool," she chuckled and rubbed the back of her neck, "I was just wondering if you would let me buy you dinner so I could repay you a little. And get to know you better. And stuff." Korra's eyes widened as she realized what she said. "As friends, of course!" She insisted, waving her hands in front of her with a slight blush on her face.

Managing to maintain her composure unlike previous times today, Asami smiled sheepishly. "I'd love to."

Korra returned the smile. "Great! Where do you want to go? I don't really know what's good around here."

Despite the cringeworthy experience that happened earlier, Asami regained her confidence full force and waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry. I know just the place. Pick me up at my place." Asami took out her phone and handed it to Korra. "Just give me your number and I'll text you my address later."

Korra's grin grew wider as she punched in her phone number. She handed it back to Asami. "Awesome. Six o'clock?"

Asami put on her helmet and took her position on top the motorcycle. "Sure thing."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These are all the chapters I have at this current moment. Do not fret! I am actively trying to write as much as I can despite my busy college schedule. Thanks again for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, all! I've posted this to fanfic.net, but I wanted to post it here, too. This is my first ever fanfiction, so I could really use some feedback as to what I'm doing right and wrong. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!


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